Equal
by MRG101
Summary: Former CIA Agent Sarah Walker is working for a private security firm. Her task is to find evidence of Rourke Instruments, selling weapons to the other site. What is gonna happen when sometime later CEO Rourke is found dead in his office with her fingerprints on him and the murder weapon? AU Story, - Crossover with Alpha Protocol.


**A/N:**

**Yeah, guys I´m back. I´m sorry for not being so active. I had some problems, but now everything is patched up and ready to go. So let´s "kickstart" it with a new story. It probably goes M later just to be safe, but right now I keep the "T". You can expect updates on the other stories as well. Everything should go back to normal with regular month updates. **

**I want to thanks everyone who gives this story a shot and thanks everyone who supported me. But more than anything, I want to thanks my 2 betas, Maverick41 and phnxgrl, for encouraging me. It means a lot to me, it really does.**

**So as always, leave a review, tell me what you think and enjoy the story. :-)**

**I don´t own any Chuck or Alpha Protocol characters.**

**...**

**3****rd**** June 2010 **

**Rourke Industries HQ - Los Angeles **

**5 PM **

Life is not easy. It's usually based on few factors. The way circumstances approach you isn't always pleasant. Most of the time it depends on how we are going to handle things. Sometimes, it is about will and resiliency to overcome the bad times. It's also life-draining. And many people can't find the willpower or they just lost it.

This was sort of a case of a young man named Carl Kirby. A 22 year old who as every other men at his age had his dreams. But unfortunately he had a bad luck. His mother died when he was finishing high school. After that, everything went downhill. Carl didn't get to the college and couldn't find a job. So, thanks to the acquaintance at Rourke Industries, he found it a work as a security guard. His uncle as the firm's trusted accountant had to pull out a huge amount of favors.

Don't get it wrong, Carl was grateful for Uncle's effort and for the salary. It just wasn't what he planned doing for doing this for the rest of his life. Sitting it alone in an empty room at night watching a bunch of TV screens was not his idea of an ideal life. Being taken in advance, just because everybody assumed he had no personal life. As stereotypical as well as sad it was, it was sight of Carl's everyday life. He was just one of many unlucky souls getting smacked down by the system.

The sound of a buzzer from a front entrance managed to throw Carl from no man's land of self pity back to present. It was Eva Anderson, Rourke's personal secretary. She was a very attractive blond with gorgeous blue eyes. As far as Carl could tell, she had the hell of power among men and she knew it. She was wearing as always something elegant, yet provocative enough to give a heart attack to anybody, who sees her. Carl had to remind it himself not for the first time where was his place.

_But even so, man can dream, right?_

…

Sarah Walker a.k.a Eva Anderson and also current personal secretary felt relived. She had been undercover for half a year at this company. No matter how she loved this line of work, she hated this particular assignment. One of the reasons was its length. Working for Software Company could be fun and exciting if you have at least a small amount enthusiasm for it. Of course being the personal secretary doesn't necessarily means one has to apply too much technical knowledge. However, it meant to have a more "personal" relationship with the boss. Ted Rourke was well known for surrounding himself with beautiful women. And thanks that public knowledge Sarah Walker was a number one candidate for this job.

Giving a thankful nod to the camera on a hallway, Sarah went almost mechanically straight forward to her office. It was obvious that her mind was clearly elsewhere.

_3 years ago_

**24****th**** May 2007**

**Hungary - Budapest**

**12 PM**

"Are you sure about this Michael?" She asked.

Sarah was sipping her coffee while rewinding the plan. It seemed simple. Michael Thornton was a young star among analysts and had bright future ahead of him. Whispers were saying he had potential and Sarah had to agree. She would never admit it, but if she didn't have a relationship and felt committed to fixing it, Thornton would be her guy. Trying to avoid his eyes, she focused on dossier in front of her.

It showed a picture of Igor Marcosh, an accountant of ALMA Corporation. She read that he was a loving husband, father and the most important an asset. It was in CIA´s best interest to protect him. Sarah would be posing as a nanny for his 2 year old daughter. Even if she much rather had been with her boyfriend somewhere in Columbia It was a new role that challenged the so called Wildcat.

"Are you having second thoughts?" If you're not up for it, we will find another way. Everybody knows what happened to you was tragic. It would be understandable if you need some time." Michael seemed to be concerned.

Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. Sarah paled and almost spit the tea.

"You looked into my file." She challenged with an angry look on her face.

It was statement, not a question.

"I made an evaluation too, and quite frankly, I not approve of this mission." He stated ignoring the anger Sarah expressed.

"Then I should be glad that it's not your decision to make…" Sarah responded with much sarcasm.

That was a fast counter. Her use of sarcasm and irony was a Human's best friends.

"You should," Thornton's voice sounded much colder at that point. "…Because, I would have never sent a woman, especially one who just lost her child to such a mission. I wouldn't have been that cruel to anyone!" He exclaimed.

"Perhaps, you choose a wrong line of work mister Thornton…" Sarah said dryly.

"Perhaps," He said with a sad smile appeared on handler's face. "Or I just value the most basic principal on Earth."

"Yeah, what's that?" Sarah asked to humor the man.

"…Humanity…" was his reply.

**3****rd**** June 2010 **

**Rourke Industries HQ **

Sarah blinked. She was standing in front of the elevator doors when they opened on her selected floor. Crashing the food container she was holding into door's trajectory. She was able to exit seconds after mentally cursing herself for not paying attention. She knew very well from her prior missions, that one slip up could mean an operation's failure.

Coming to her office Sarah was trying to get her composure back. The office was quite simple in a way people would expect from the office. Table, chair, phone, laptop printer and coffee maker filled the room. The room was brightened by decent amount of pictures. CEO like Ted Rourke certainly could afford it. And for someone like Eva Anderson wealth, power and art was a calling card.

_There we go again, no time to pity yourself or share any glib of a sentiment. You don't have that privilege as other people, don't ever forget that…_

No matter how much former Sarah Walker loved undercover work, current Sarah Walker found it harder and harder to switch to her older self. Her suppose comfort zone. Being the best when it came to things that were work related, that was something most of the people were accustomed to her having. Outside, this spy mask, her life was pretty hollow.

She turned on her phone as a transmitter to make the data transfer possible. Sarah knew there was another thing she had to do. Cause a distraction, so nobody would suspect a momentary security lapse. Rourke Industries had the best brains in store. No matter what kind of man Ted Rourke was, he demanded precision from every employee. It wasn't hard to imagine, he doubled, perhaps even tripled his points of emphasis on his most cared department.

Keeping things simple was probably the best option to take. Most of the agents in Sarah's position would try to be all smart, fancy, reckless, and putting emotions front of cold judgment. This was something she unfortunately learned from her own experience.

..,

Computer emergency…?" He asked.

Sarah looked up to see a man who appeared across from her desk. For some reason, she knew that that line was going to stick in her head for some time. It wasn't as much about what was said rather how he said it.

Sitting in her secretary "Eva Anderson" posture behind the desk; she was rather surprised by her new yet brief acquaintance. He was tall, with curly hair brown eyes and genuine smile. What surprised her even more was the fact that even though he was a "PROFESSINAL NERD" by his t-shit his body told a different story. She highly doubted that other so called professionals were that muscled. His Chucks only underlined her evaluation.

"I get that a lot" he smiled while leaning against her desk across from the blond secretary. "My sister insisted that I need other hobbies besides computers and videogames."

"Your sister must be pretty persistent it seems." Sarah actually chucked a little bit. "Is she a physician?"

"Actually, she's a Neurosurgeon. If you would want any tips go talk to her boyfriend and tell him that Chuck sent you, miss…?" Chuck asked earnestly.

"Eva." Sarah responded to the prompt with a slight smile.

"Nice name. Mine is Charles, but you can call me Chuck." He said with a disarming smile.

Truth be told, Sarah was used to see that type of smile from guys everywhere she went. It was usually a mask with a secret promise to get laid and have a good time. It was surprising to see someone who didn't have any of these familiar tells. It would mean that there somewhere down the line was a man waiting for her.

"So, what's seems to be the problem?" Chuck's voice returned her back to reality. Starting to transmit data by her phone, Eva gave a sad smile.

"As you can see," she said turning over the laptop. "I was making a schedule and my computer just froze…"


End file.
